Intertek Alchemy has launched a certification program that confirms a company’s employees have been trained, assessed and verified to meet stringent protocols for sanitation, hygiene, health and more.

As shelter-in-place orders begin to dissipate, many in-quarantine traits will become generally accepted standards as customers and employees fundamentally re-think their approach to everyday health, safety and well-being. Intertek says its research revealed the following:

• 76% of consumers were scared or nervous about visiting a restaurant once restrictions were lifted;
• 73% cited the same fear in visiting a hotel;
• The research found similar concerns around theaters (56%), airlines (57%), and public transport (59%);
• 71% of workers do not want to return to work unless authenticated health and safety practices are in place; and
• 95% of respondents would find it reassuring if companies adopted “a universal quality standard” to prevent COVID-19 infection.

Developed by Intertek subsidiary Alchemy, Protek People Assurance certification program is a targeted eLearning program that teaches, test and verifies employee proficiency on critical topics such as cleaning and sanitation, facemasks, personal hygiene and vehicles of disease transmission. According to a press release issued by the company, the training content utilizes Intertek Alchemy’s model of adult learning to ensure worker engagement and comprehension, including interactive elements, micro-learning bursts and gamification and offers continuous learning tools that employers can place throughout the workplace to reinforce the key concepts learned in the training.

Companies can use their current learning management system (LMS) to provide the program to their employees, or they can access it through Intertek Wisetail LMS, an eLearning platform, to deliver the training via desktop, tablet or mobile device.

The press release states that the People Assurance program is one component of the end-to-end Intertek Protek certification program, which gives customers assurance that a business is safe to visit through a series of thorough tests and inspections covering five key components of the business: people, systems and processes, facilities, materials and surfaces, and products.

“It’s clear that health, safety, hygiene and well-being—from workplaces to the public places where people socialize and the public transport used to get there—is now the greatest concern for the entire world,” says André Lacroix, CEO of Intertek. “Protek builds on our existing total quality assurance solutions to create an extensive, end-to-end program offering a systemic range of solutions for this new environment.”